On Sept. 7, as the NFL readied for another season, one player who had long envisioned being a part of it, celebrated the start of a new chapter. A different chapter.

Jalen Robinette, Air Force Academy’s all-time leading receiver, graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. In November, he will leave Colorado for Nevada, where he will serve as a logistics readiness officer at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas.

It’s far from the life Robinette imagined a year ago, as he balanced six courses to complete his degree with training in Centennial to prep for the NFL combine and make the leap to the pros.

He was told then he had a shot, thanks to the U.S. Department of Defense’s pro sports policy that was revised in the summer of 2016. The alteration created an avenue for graduating cadets to turn pro immediately, by applying for ready reserve status and deferring their required active duty. The path was never guaranteed — applications were approved on a “case-by-case basis” — but it was an opportunity that didn’t exist when he committed to the academy.

But the option was swiped from him the moment the draft began. On April 29, the third day of the draft, he prepared to join his own draft party with his family and await a call from an NFL team. Instead, he received a call from a reporter, asking him how he felt about the latest policy change.

Two days earlier the Air Force notified the academy it wouldn’t approve any requests for ready-reserve status, pre-empting a broader policy change by the DOD that would be applied to all service academies.

“I really didn’t know how I felt. I felt a lot of things,” Robinette said. “A part of me wanted to be angry, a part of me wanted to be sad, but a big part of me understood that I came to the academy and I know what I signed up for. It’s to do something that’s bigger than me, bigger than football.

“We still had the draft party because there wasn’t an official announcement. .. It sucks when something you plan on doesn’t go through, but that’s life. You just have to keep pushing.”

David J. Phillip, The Associated Press

Robinette was the first player from the academy to play in the East-West Shrine Game and get an invite to the NFL scouting combine, above.

Robinette, projected to go in the mid-to-latter rounds of the draft, never received an NFL call — not during the draft or after as teams added college free agents. Instead he started making the calls to beg for a tryout.

He got two, with the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots. But neither was willing to sign Robinette and place him on reserve while he fulfilled his minimum two years of active duty.

“It was pretty tough just to see all the hard work I put in throughout that semester and it just kind of felt like everything crumbled,” Robinette said. “But I know what I signed up for and I knew that the best day of my life was coming up later that year with graduation. I was just looking forward to that honestly.”

He wouldn’t get that, either. Not with the rest of the 979 cadets who were commissioned and walked during graduation on May 24. Robinette was one of nine cadets pulled from the lineup as the academy reviewed his eligibility and qualifications.

“The academy is a training environment,” Robinette said. “The rules there are set for the better of the training environment. I made a mistake down the road. I did make a mistake. I just don’t want people to think that mistake was made just so I could possibly go and play football right away. I just want people to know graduating and being in the Air Force was always my goal. That was always something I was focused on.

“When you grow up watching the NFL, when you play a sport and you dream of somehow putting on an NFL uniform, that’s a hard opportunity to pass up when it’s presented there for you. I’m someone who likes to pursue a lot of things, I’m someone who likes to keep doors open and that was something that interested me, being able to put on an Air Force uniform and put an NFL uniform on.”

Robinette’s chance to do both was placed on hold, with no clear end.

Exactly three months later, when NFL rosters were set, Robinette was granted his degree and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. His latest strange chapter closed and the next one could finally open.

“It really meant everything,” he said. “My mom was out there and I promised her I’d bring my degree back home since the day I left for the academy. It was just nice to fulfill that promise to her. It was a nice, big feeling of accomplishment and all those tests I took, all the early mornings, all the staying up late to do assignments. It just felt good to be like, ‘You know what, I’m glad I went through it. I’m glad I got it behind me.’ But also it’s that feeling of there are more opportunities out there, more doors to knock down.”

One of those is still the NFL. Robinette continues to train and is planning to balance his full-time job as an officer with a training regimen fit for a pro, just in case a team calls, just in case an opportunity comes up, just in case he gets to follow the path of former Bronco and current Falcons lineman Ben Garland.

But after a bizarre and arduous journey, Robinette said he leaves Colorado Springs with no regrets.

“There’s just something about the academy you just don’t get at other schools,” he said. “There’s the obvious benefit, but every time I came back home and I talk about my experiences with people it made me feel more proud about my decision and just the opportunity it offered me. Not many people are guaranteed a job right after college that pays well. I’m very blessed for that.

“I feel like there’s a reason I went to the two bowl games and the combine and I just felt like with everything I did, everything I left on the table, there is still more for me to do. I still love the sport and while I’m still young and can still play, why not? If there’s an opportunity on the table why not take it? I’m definitely not going to let what happened over the summer and what happened during the draft get me down or let it put any sort of hate or sort of negativity in my heart. I’m just going to keep doing what I do. I can’t complain about being employed by the Air Force still. I’m very thankful for that, but I’m also going to keep training and if there’s an opportunity to be taken, I’ll be ready to take it.”

Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force Academy

Jalen Robinette, with his mother at his side, graduated and was commissioned on Sept. 7 in a ceremony held at the Air Force Academy’s McDermott Library.

Nicki Jhabvala is the lead Broncos and NFL beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving at The Post in 2014, she spent nearly two years as a senior staff editor at The New York Times and five years at Sports Illustrated.

CSU quarterback Collin Hill's second ACL tear has opened debate over the role of coaches in preventing off-field injuries, with Colorado Buffaloes coach Mike MacIntyre barring his team from playing basketball and former CSU coach Sonny Lubick allowing his players to compete in intramural sports on campus.

Colorado State University and Becky Hammon engaged in talks over the Rams men's head basketball coaching vacancy, but she has decided to stay at her current post as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs.

With a NCHC regular-season title, a Hobey Baker Award and a NCAA title won last season, the NCHC playoff crown was the only available trophy that eluded the University of Denver hockey team. On Saturday night, they completed the place setting.